No doubt, when Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba took office, he had a tough job ahead of him.
He came in on the heels of a former administration plagued with corruption. On top of that, he had to live up to his late father’s legacy.
Two years later, the city has made great strides in some areas, including addressing road, water and sewer needs, and in working to reinvigorate several public spaces on the Northside.
Northsiders can see the city’s progress. Streets are being paved and more and more residents finally receiving regular, accurate water bills.
Under Lumumba, the city has finally moved forward in implementing the first-year one-percent infrastructure master plan, a plan that was passed in 2015, but languished under the city’s former leadership.
One-percent projects completed on the Northside include a city-wide utility cut repair project, the first phase of the Eastover Drive water main replacement project, a $4 million street repaving blitz, a $4.7 million major street repaving project and a roughly $9 million neighborhood street repaving project and others.
Infrastructure tax dollars have also been used to help repair water mains following the city’s 2018 water crisis, and to draw up engineering plans for various projects.
Additionally, Jackson has finally started correcting a myriad of problems in water and sewer billing, many of the problems which were brought about by a poor contract put in place by his father’s predecessor, Harvey Johnson Jr.
Roads, water and sewer aside, Jackson is also working to make its public parks more relevant. A new contract was recently put in place to reinvigorate Smith-Wills Stadium on Lakeland Drive, and the next phase of the Parham Bridges Park Improvement Project was recently authorized by the city council. These improvements promise to improve quality of life, help maintain property values and grow confidence in city government.
The city had completed more than a dozen one-percent projects from the first and second-year master plans and have completed design work on seven more.
Public works has moved forward on other infrastructure projects as well. The council recently approved another round of road, water and sewer improvements funded by the tax.
This work includes awarding a nearly $2.4 million contract to APAC Mississippi to repave East Northside Drive, one of the worst thoroughfares on the Northside. The council also brought on design firms for Woodrow Wilson, North State Street repaving projects, and for sewer repair project for Ridgewood Road.
Recently, public works opened bids for the second phase of the Eastover Water Main replacement project. That project will include installing a new water main along the roadway from Ridgewood Road to the south end of Lake Circle Drive in Eastover.
The news means Jackson is one step closer to completing yet another project included in the city’s first-year one-percent plan.
Northsiders might also notice other road improvements, including a recently repaved section of Old Canton Road near Highland Village, as well as numerous repaved streets downtown. Many of those streets were overlaid in anticipation of the opening of the Two Mississippi Museums. The grand opening drew thousands of people to the state, including many notables from the Civil Rights Movement. The better roads likely helped bolster Jackson’s image on the national stage.
Additionally, work is under way on the much-anticipated North State Street TIGER grant project, with other paving projects for the roadway in the works.
While Jackson’s roads are still bad, no one can deny progress is being made.
Lumumba’s team has made strides on other fronts as well, and perhaps that can be seen nowhere better than in the water department.
One of the mayor’s greatest achievements was the hiring of Public Works Director Robert Miller. Miller has led the department through crisis after crisis, beginning with the 2018 water problem. That December and January, days of below-freezing temperatures caused water main breaks across the city. City crews and private contractors had repaired many of them when a second round of cold weather swept through the area, causing additional breaks.
From there, Miller has had to deal with complications from the city’s $91 million energy performance contract with Siemens.
The city entered into that contract in 2012, under then Mayor Harvey Johnson. The city issued $89 million in bonds to move forward with the work which included a complete overhaul of the city’s water system.
Even the Late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, who replaced Johnson in 2013, didn’t like the deal, and he said as much in local media. His misgivings proved to be right. Last spring, more than two years after the Siemens work wrapped up, city officials discovered that thousands of customers were not receiving bills.
The younger Lumumba’s team has also guided the city through that crisis. Since then, the city has worked with private contractors to correct thousands of accounts and get the billing system on the right track.
Jackson is still having billing issues, but through March, public works reported the majority of customers were now receiving bills and bringing in enough collections to keep the water department afloat.
Citing complications with the Siemens work, Jackson is looking into taking legal action against the firm.
On the parks and recreation side, the council recently approved entering into a contract with Tim Bennett to manage Smith-Wills Stadium. The contract is promising and has the potential to transform what was a nearly-defunct field into a moneymaker.
Bennett, manager of MGM Park in Biloxi, is expected to invest $6 million in the stadium over the next 10 years. Starting in October 2020, his firm, Kusche Sports Group, will pay Jackson an annual fee of $125,000 to operate the stadium, as well as revenues from all ticketed events held there.
In other news, work is also moving forward at Parham Bridges Park.
Long-term plans include transforming the park into a major tennis center, with additional courts and easy access for visitors. Recently, the city awarded a contract to to build a new entrance in the 4000 block of Old Canton Road.
